The Spring of the Ram by Dorothy Dunnett

1460: The second in The House of Niccolò series begins with the youngest de Charetty: Catherine, who has been sent to Brussels to stay with family friends and acquire some polish. Big mistake, Marian! Catherine immediately falls for a handsome entrepreneurial-type, Pagano Doria, who is no better than he should be (but has very nice teeth). We know this because he persuades this child to elope with him; presumably he knows she is an heiress.

Marian also realized Nicholas needed to get away from Bruges (and unlike us, she doesn’t know about every attempt on his life) so bravely encouraged him to undertake a major expedition – first to Florence to get support from Cosimo de Medici – and then to Trebizond, part of the Byzantine Empire, governed by an inscrutable ruler, Emperor David. Because there is imminent threat to Trebizond of attack by the Ottomans under Sultan Mehmed II, Nicholas will bring 100 mercenaries, led by Captain Astorre, who I disliked in the first book, although he did turn Claus into a soldier. The plan is that the mercenaries will protect the Charetty goods from raiders and bulk up the Emperor’s army, so Nicholas is sure he will be allowed to operate in Trebizond as an official agent of the Medicis and Florentine merchants. Nicholas softens Cosimo by making a toy for his beloved grandson but the Medicis were probably going to invest all along because Nicholas is taking all the risks and, if successful, they will benefit.

He is accompanied by Julius, who hasn’t got used to the transition of goofy apprentice Claus to manipulative leader Nicholas and tends to sulk; Tobie the observant doctor, now that he is drinking less; and a priest, Godschalc (what a strange name), who was on assignment seeking a ship for their voyage and has already tangled with Doria. At a rollicking Epiphany procession, Nicholas also manages to snag a brilliant Scots engineer, John le Grant – he entices the man to join the venture by revealing a similar fascination with math and technology.

So, he had to show what he could do, both in his measures against Pagano Doria, and in the whole elephantine problem of equipping and launching a maritime trading expedition: a matter about which he knew precisely nothing. The miraculous thing was that, as soon as he started, he became so carried away that he became so carried away that he forgot about impressing anybody. And did not know that, of all things, it was his rocketing high spirits that swept the other men with him.

When Doria, who is going to be the agent for the Genoa merchants, reaches Florence, he still has Catherine with him but keeps her veiled and hidden. He keeps her happy with a dog, many gifts, cuddles (but no more), and perfume (to mask that of his other female guests). He finds her annoying and childish at times but marries her promptly once she officially becomes a woman by getting her first period (creepily, the nurse he hired to wait on Catherine had been feeding her some mysterious potion to make this happen sooner rather than later). Catherine turns out to be sexually precocious and she realizes this gives her some power over him; I say she’d better not push her luck.

Nicholas is wary of Doria but doesn’t immediately recognize him as a serious threat, despite attempted sabotage at the Epiphany procession, until they reach Modon. Then he is hit with a double blow: he recognizes one of Doria’s pages as Catherine and realizes she is the man’s child bride and, at the same time, his ship is on fire and he knows Doria is behind it. The fire is extinguished but the damage takes two weeks to repair and enables Doria to leave the port first. This means he reaches every port ahead of Nicholas and can traduce him to anyone who will listen, plus purchase all the good supplies. Nicholas does catch up with Doria in Stamboul and tries to rescue Catherine but she tells him she is blissfully happy and to leave her alone. She’s a bratty teen now, not the child he remembers.

While he and Godscalc are with Catherine, his ship is invaded by Turks who attack Julius and John Le Grant so they have to rush back. Doria told the Turks about Nicholas’ soldiers but Nicholas is prepared: he hid the soldiers and scares away the Turks by saying there is plague on the ship. He even doctored the corpses from the fire to scare off suspicious predators. Julius has a broken collarbone so is in legitimate pain but he needs to stop whining and doubting Nicholas! Doria gives his black page to the Grand Vizier of Stamboul; I don’t like Noah but this is dreadful when he is so devoted to Doria.

Unexpectedly, Violante of Naxos turns up on the ship as a paying guest. Her appearance at the end of Niccolò Rising gave Marian a pang of jealousy (fearing Nicholas might be lured away from Bruges). However, now we know that she is carrying on with Doria, I don’t see why Nicholas would be interested in her, except to figure out what she is up to. It is hard to know whose side she is on because she is married to a Venetian but she is a great-niece of the Emperor of Trebizond. She seems contemptuous of Nicholas yet extremely interested in finding out as much as she can about him. Don’t trust her!

Meanwhile, back in Bruges, Marian has just found out about her daughter’s elopement from an insincere letter from Doria. At about the same time, her lawyer/factotum Gregorio returns from trying to retrieve Catherine from Brussels. He has learned of her disappearance and the name of her lover. His research also revealed the identity of Doria’s financial backer, which should not have been a surprise to me but I had missed the clues.

I will stop here because there are too many spoilers and I’m about to get to the section I liked least. Most of the book involves two questions: first, can Nicholas, the former dyer’s apprentice, create and lead a successful mercantile operation in Byzantium and, second, can he rescue his stepdaughter from Pagano Doria, a rival merchant, who seems bent on destroying Nicholas and his venture. To me, the actual sale of the merchandise schlepped from Florence was secondary, although of course the Charetty enterprise needs to liquidate. The rivalry between Nicholas and Doria was interesting because it was unpredictable but I felt the story dragged when everyone got to Trebizond. This book seems much darker than Niccolò Rising but there are some great new characters, such as Monna Alessandra (did she have to be so hard on Nicholas); Cosimo, naturally; and Emperor David. And Loppe develops as a character, as Julius becomes more annoying. Obviously, I hated the ending. Dorothy did not have a sentimental bone in her body – and I can imagine her smiling at me if I said so!

My paperback copy of The Spring of the Ram contained an Introduction written by Judith Wilts, a brilliant Dunnett fan who taught at Boston College and died last year. I once gave her a ride home from a local gathering on Dunnett Day and wish I had spent more time with her.

Spoilers – but please don’t tell me anything past book 2:

How could Catherine’s hosts entrust her travel to a handsome young man without a chaperone, even if they considered her a child? Their self-serving letter to Marian later was quite outrageous!

I know Catherine and her sister were upset at Nicholas for marrying their mother but he was kind to those girls for years so her antagonism is unfair, although I realize it is partly annoyance at being treated as a child. Running away with Doria was an adventure but it was also a way to show everyone at home that she was an adult. My, I got tired of reading about Doria’s perfect teeth, admittedly quite an accomplishment without fluoride or modern dentists.*

If Marian knew about Julius’ embezzlement issue in the past (as he claimed, apparently falsely), his manipulation of the accounts to shield Felix or Claus’ escapades from Marian in Niccolò Rising would have been risky, even if he did not benefit.

I was foolish not to realize who was behind Pagano Doria’s expedition but how did he know Nicholas was going to Trebizond in time to fund a rival? And was seducing Catherine part of the plot or lucky happenstance by Doria?

I was so startled by the appearance of Donatello it took me a while to realize his companion was the engineer Nicholas needed. What a visual that procession would make if the right person turned these books into a miniseries! Instead of yet another Pride and Prejudice!

Nicholas’ recurring and incapacitating marsh fever is reminiscent of Lymond’s migraines. I remember when we were waiting for Checkmate to be published some thought he might have a brain tumor.

Pretty sad that Cosimo’s grandson dies during this book!

Why did Nicholas allow his friends to think he took advantage of Katelina? I suppose he was preserving her honor but, at the very least, they (and she) should have known he could not have predicted she would marry Simon.

I still don’t understand why Claus dropped the goblet in Niccolò Rising.

This is my sixteenth book for the Intrepid Reader's 2025 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. 

Title: The Spring of the Ram
Author: Dorothy Dunnett
Publication: Vintage paperback, originally published in 1987
Genre: Historical fiction
Source: Personal copy

* My book group book this month, The Ride, revealed that Paul Revere was not only a silversmith but also a self-taught dentist in his spare time!  He identified poor Joseph Warren's body by looking at the teeth he had implanted.  I say again, thank goodness for modern dentistry!